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  • [ December 23, 2025 ] Rio de Janeiro Designs First Plan for Social Interest Housing: Popular Council Launches Campaign to Ensure Plan Addresses Real Needs #GentrificationWatch
  • [ December 15, 2025 ] ‘To Lose Your Memory Is to Lose Your Essence’: Vidigal Celebrates Its 85th Anniversary With Cultural Event Inspired by the ‘Favela Climate Memory’ Project *Highlight
  • [ December 12, 2025 ] Brazil’s First National Meeting of Community Architecture Highlights Women’s Leadership and the Power of Self-Built Architecture in Achieving the Right to Housing and to the City #InterventionWatch
  • [ December 10, 2025 ] Youth at the Center of Climate Decisions: During COP30, Children’s Summit Highlights ‘It’s Children Who Feel It Most!’ *Highlight
  • [ December 5, 2025 ] ‘Favela-based Media Are a Pillar of Democracy’: In Rocinha, Climate Justice Takes Center Stage at the 3rd Conference on Favela and Peripheral Journalism #MediaWatch
HomeUnderstanding Rio

Understanding Rio

#GentrificationWatch

Olympic City Monopoly: It would be comic if it weren’t so tragic

By Raquel Rolnik • Translation by Nate Lawrence • February 28, 2013

For original article in Portuguese on Yahoo! click here. Article by Raquel Rolnik, Special Rapporteur to the UN on Adequate Housing. At this point, it does not take writing a thesis or doctoral dissertation to identify the profound […]

Dancers from the Favo de Acari samba school
Favela Culture

North Zone Carnival: Parading with Favo de Acari Samba School

By Nathan Siegel • February 17, 2013

It was 1 am and after hours of parading from other schools, it was finally our turn. The music began and we started dancing and singing. “If you don’t know the words, just move your […]

Interviews & Profiles

An Interview with City of God’s Iara Oliveira

By Anna Kaiser • February 7, 2013

Cidade de Deus, Rio’s most famous West Zone favela, was made (in)famous thanks to the book and international blockbuster by the same name, City of God. The community today is occupied by a Pacifying Policy Unit […]

#Rio2016

Waiting for Santa Claus: Asa Branca and the Contradictions of Rio’s Urban Transformation

By Matthew Richmond • December 21, 2012

Clique aqui para Português December 15th–I had taken just a few steps down Rua Asa Branca when Bezerra’s familiar voice rang out. The Resident Association’s inimitable president was sitting in a barbershop, his face covered […]

#Rio2016

In Morar Carioca Prep, iBase Collects Oral Histories and Video of Asa Branca

By Catherine Osborn • December 7, 2012

Clique aqui para Português “We’re making Asa Branca: The Movie here!” shouted Carlos Alberto “Bezerra” Costa, president of the Asa Branca Residents Association, as a passerby looked quizzically at the film team spread across a […]

Posts pagination

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RioOnWatch’s anti-racist reporting series won silver in the 2022 inaugural The Anthem Awards, in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion category among Best Local Awareness Programs.
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About

In May 2010, Catalytic Communities launched what was originally Rio Olympics Neighborhood Watch (hence RioOnWatch), a program to bring visibility to favela community voices in the lead-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics. This news site, RioOnWatch.org, grew into a much-needed and unique reference featuring favela perspectives on the urban transformation of Rio. With diverse and deeply interlinked articles by a mix of community reporters, resident opinions, solidarity reporters, international observers, and academic researchers, we work to engender a more accurate picture of favelas, their contributions to the city, and the potential of favela-led community development in Rio and around the world.

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Awards

Special Thanks

Fundação Heinrich Böll Brasil
World Habitat
Fideicomiso de la Tierra Caño Martín Peña
Pastoral de Favelas
Center for CLT Innovation
Global Land Alliance
Ecocity Builders
Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation
SDSU Behner Stiefel Center
The Rio Times
Forum Grita Baixada
Beto Paixão Graphic Design
Architecture Museum of Vienna
Yale School of Architecture

  • Home
    • Highlighted Stories
    • Understanding Rio
    • Reference Articles
  • Communities
    • Central
    • South Zone
    • North Zone
    • West Zone
    • Greater Rio
  • Policies
    • Public Security
    • Housing
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Health
    • Sanitation
  • Violations
    • Human Rights
    • Housing Rights
    • Police Violence
    • Government Neglect
  • Organizing
    • Community Organizing
    • Community Solution
    • Resistance
    • Sustainability
    • Participation
    • Protest
    • Culture
    • Responsible Tourism
  • Content Map
    • by Community Contributors
    • by Int’l Observers
    • Series
      • Anti-Racist Series
      • Energy Justice Series
    • Event Reports
    • Video Stories
    • Photo-Essays
    • Interviews/Profiles
    • Research & Analysis
    • Reviews
    • Listicles
    • Opinion
    • Reference
    • Podcasts
    • Translated Articles
  • About
    • Timeline
    • Our Reporting Policy
    • License
    • Feedback
  • For Journos
  • Donate

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